Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The History of Grotrian Pianos

By Amy Nutt

Many people are not familiar with the history of this famous piano manufacturer, but it`s a fascinating one. This German company is still going strong and consumers have come to expect top quality from them.

An Idea is Seeded Friedrich Grotrian of Grotrian Pianos, got his start quite innocently in Moscow where he worked at a piano manufacturing company. After 25 years of selling pianos, Grotrian headed back to his homeland, Germany, where he became a partner in a fairly small manufacturer in the 1950`s and continued to work and live in Germany.

Friedrich died in 1860, passing his portion of the company on to his son, Wilhelm. Just five years later, Wilhelm and the Grotrian-Steinweg family took full proprietorship of the business.

Quality Production Yields Results Because Grotrian-Steinweg was such a conscientious company, offering top quality instruments, it wasn`t long before even the most elite in society found it necessary to own one of their pianos.

Royal families purchased Grotrian pianos, awards were given and famous musicians and composers were found to use the top notch instruments. The family keeps a record book which details the awards and thanks given them over the generations.

New Blood In 1885, Willi and Kurt Grotrian entered the family business and these two young men were key in moving the business forward into the next century. They patented a huge number of the piano inventions that were discovered at the turn of the century and made great advancements in the world of music.

The pianos turned out at this point by the Grotrian piano company were far ahead of their time, with freely vibrating soundboard and a design that allowed them to take the form of the more compact upright piano without compromising on sound. Their model 120 was one of the most popular breakthrough models.

Once Kurt Grotrian passed on, his two sons, Erwin and Helmut, continued with the family traditions. Like their father and uncle before them, the two men continued to discover new methods of building and improving on existing technology.

World War II The war destroyed most factories in Germany and the Grotrian company ceased production. It was very nearly the end of the piano company, but they did finally manage to resurrect the company in 1948 and began to produce once more.

By 1974, the company was under the hand of yet another generation of Grotrians and Knut Grotrian (son of Helmut) was ready to lead the manufacturer into the future. The business moved to a factory in Braunschweig, Germany and from this vantage point, continued to excel in the production of modern pianos. They brought the business into the modern world, inventing new methods of production and putting them to use.

With over 170 years of garnered experience, Grotrian pianos are among the finest made, using the latest in instrument building technology to create near perfect sound and flawless build. There`s a good reason these pianos have been so famous and managed to live through the ages so well and are often used for piano lessons Mississauga. . . they are truly impressive. The classic look and angelic sound combine to create the most sought after pianos in the nation.

Grotrian piano company has gone through six generations and increased the world of music`s general knowledge greatly with their patents and inventions. New methods of building instruments have been designed specifically by this family which, unlike most other piano manufacturers, has kept the company in the family since the beginning. There`s little doubt that Friedrich would be proud of how his descendants have handled business.

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